THE TANGLED FIELD

Barbara McClintock (1902-1992), a geneticist who integrated classical genetics with microscopic observations of the behavior of chromosomes, was regarded as a genius and as an unorthodox, nearly incomprehensible thinker. Using McClintock's research notes, newly available correspondence, and dozens of interviews with McClintock and others, Comfort replaces the "McClintock myth" with a new story, rich with implications for our understanding of women in science and scientific creativity.